The following is going to be a fairly extensive trip report on NCL's Norwegian Pearl to Alaska. Since some of you may be receiving certificates for NCL cruises, you may want to read some or all of this. In Part I - I'll start out discussing NCL certificates, gambling, then freestyle dining, entertainment, and so on. Part II will discuss cruises to Alaska with pointers on shore excursions. If you are not interested in reading this, just skip right over the whole thing. If you are interested in learning more about NCL, then you may just want to read over sections that are of particular interest, and skip Part II on Alaska, and so on.
I'll be describing my experience on the Norwegian Pearl, which may not be exactly the same as on other NCL ships, so keep that in mind.
First, let me state that if you have never been on a cruise before, you probably will enjoy any NCL cruise, and may think the service is great. All the first time cruisers I spoke to onboard had a great time. However, if you have sailed on other cruise lines, your opinion may not be quite so positive. There were many good things about NCL, but some bad points as well.
NCL CRUISE CERTIFICATES. If you get one of these from Harrah's or another casino, you will find that they vary quite a bit in detail. Some may be good for Inside cabins on some cruises, for Outside "Oceanview" on others, but possibly not for balcony cabins. Some offers may cover all expenses including port taxes and fees, such as offers from Harrah's New Orleans for free cruises which include covering gratuities as well. But most certificates some won't cover these costs. Most certificates won't include "service charges" which are the same thing that other cruises call "gratuities", which are divided equally between the staff of the dining rooms and the room stewards/cleaners. NCL automatically tacks on a $12 per person per day charge for this. You will also automatically be charged 15% for any drinks you buy or services such as spa treatments. You can also tip extra if you want to for anyone who gives you special service. Some certificates may include only certain ships or certain itineraries, such as allowing or not allowing the Norweigan Pearl (which is their newest and largest ship), or be limited to certain itineraries (such as just 1 type of Mediterranean cruise). Therefore it is important to read the fine print carefully once you get the certificate, and check to see exactly how much the extra fees may cost you.
Thus seemingly "free" cruises may cost you some cash besides your airfare and extras such as shore excursions. Some of the people who answer the phone at NCL's cruise department seem to have wrong information, so if you are told you can't book a certain cruise you think you can, check with a supervisor. For example, my certificate for this cruise clearly stated Alaska was included, but my initial phone contact said I could not use it for Alaska, and I had to contact the cruise department's Miami office via a supervisor to get booked on The Pearl. Some dates such as holidays may be "blacked out." The sooner you book, the better your chance of getting the cruise you want. If you cancel, you'll be out any fees you pay unless you purchase trip insurance. You will not be able to transfer the certificate to someone else, and in fact, NCL is strict that whoever gets the certificate must be in that room, and you can only use 1 certificate per trip, and cannot combine certificates together. You can pay extra to upgrade your cabin to a higher category or add additional people, but sometimes these upgrade charges may seem rather excessive. Before using a certificate, double check with Travelocity or similar sites to see what sort of price you would pay for a similar cruise on NCL or another ship (and be sure to include all the fees).
On our cruise we paid $635 extra for the port taxes and fees, plus $168 for the daily "service charges" plus airfare and extras, for an obstructed view handicapped cabin (total for 2 people)
We also received a $100 cabin credit which was noted on the receipt for the cruise after we booked it (but not mentioned on the certificate). I don't know why this cruise got the credit, other cruises may not get that perk.
GAMBLING. Be sure to join the slot club and get any coupon booklet. The booklet we got was great with: pay $10 for $15 in chips (use until you lose them), $20 for $40 in free play on slots or video poker, 2 match plays, etc. But the best thing was that on this ship, they let us do the pay $10 for $15 in chips over and over until about midway in the cruise. Theoretically you needed to turn in a coupon, but some cashiers seemed to have extra coupons, and would say, "How many people in your cabin? 2? Okay, you can do pay $20 to get $30," and then would put in the coupons for us, even though they knew we'd already done this. We couldn't get a straight answer for how many times we could do it, but it was definitely more than once, until they seemed to run out of extra coupons. No way to know if this was a fluke on the Norwegian Pearl or not, but certainly I will check if I can do this again on any NCL cruise I take in the future.
Also if you come in on a Harrah's certificate you will get FREE DRINKS in the casino and at the casino bar (even if you aren't playing), and this can save you a considerable amount of money. (They give you a special card when you join the slot club.) These drinks included alcoholic ones and soda (in cans if you asked for that).
If you hit a $1200 or more jackpot, NCL does issue W2Gs (unlike Royal Caribbean which didn't).
As for VP they had the usual bad pay tables like 8/5 DDB, 6/5 JB, and some weird deuces wild pay schedules that actually were better at quarters than dollars. Advantage players will want to stay away from these and either not gamble at all, or look for slightly better games such as craps (with 2x/3x/4x odds) or blackjack. But note, I did hit a $1 Royal in DDB on my first night, and later a quarter royal on deuces wild, and ended up $3000 ahead for the trip so it is possible to win, but this is just plain dumb luck, not due to any good games.
Blackjack seemed to be mostly continuous shuffle machines the $5 minimum tables paid 6/5 for BJ, while the $10 and up paid normal 7 1/2/5. There were also roulette tables, 3-card poker, Let Em Ride, and craps.
The casino had a LOT of announcements for various tournaments such as Texas Hold'Em, slots, and BJ, as well as nightly Lotto drawings. Prizes sounded good, but you had to listen carefully because they usually were phrased "you could win $500" "you could win $256,000" etc you COULD but you wouldn't necessarily do so. (For example the $256,000 lotto prize was only if you hit 5 out of 5, and no one hit it on this cruise.) Some Hold'Em tournaments had $60 buy-ins, but you had to listen carefully to learn that you could pay an extra $50 to get additional chips, and obviously you would be at a disadvantage if you didn't do that, and there were re-buyins. There were also many 1st rounds before the final rounds, so your odds of winning any of these were smaller than they might originally have seemed.
Personnel in the casino were among the nicest on ship. If you are there on a NCL certificate from a casino, the casino may send gifts to your room. They sent us cookies one night and candies on another night.
If you play slots, insert your NCL player's club card into the machine; for table games always hand it over to the pit boss for rate. It took a huge $3000 to get 1 point in the slot club for slots, but after 25 points, your points can be used for credit on the trip. Also, if you play enough, the casino will comp you for items such as free dinners in the specialty restaurants. After several days I asked one of the casino "hosts" about how many points I had, and she informed me my card had been upgraded to Bronze, and I now qualified for more comps, and booked me into a specialty restaurant. They even comped us for a bottle of wine! Apparently this upgrade to Bronze may only be good on the Pearl (and would be maintained on any future trips), but not on other NCL cruises. However I did call NCL's casino line after the cruise and asked if my play qualified me for upgrades on my next cruise (already booked), and I was told no. However, I could now get a totally free cruise somewhere else, based on my play. Also on certain days there was a notice that play 5 points that day = $10 in free slot play; and this was in addition to any credits you received. (You need to check with the slot club desk after you've earned the free play to use it; you can wait til the last day to do all your free play.)
Because I had won $4000 royal early in the trip, and continued to have fairly decent luck with 4 deuces and quads and some table play, I played way more than I thought I would, and ended up getting some money as credits toward spa and other expenses, $50 in free play, plus comps for 2 specialty restaurants for 2 people (one of which also included a bottle of wine and the extra lobster).
The ship also had lots of bingo and "scratch off" type cards. These are the worst bets on the cruise, and you would definitely be better off to take any money you think of gambling on these and plunking them onto a single number on roulette your odds are much better that you will win, and you will win more $. Also watch out for deceptive advertising such as "$10,000 bingo" where the $10,000 COULD be won if someone gets a coverall in few enough numbers, but probably the prizes will be a lot less.
ROOMS & HANDICAPPED ACCESS. Rooms on NCL may be smaller than on other cruise lines. We had an "Oceanview" handicapped cabin, which was far smaller than a handicapped cabin on Royal Caribbean. In fact, one bed stuck out so far it blocked the door to the room if it had a cover over the end of it. If you have received a free cruise from Harrah's New Orleans on Royal Caribbean in the past, where balconies and junior suites were the norm, you'll find that the new cruises they are offering on NCL for the fall will be for much smaller Oceanview cabins, and you have to pay if you want to upgrade to a balcony or suite.
Some ships (such as the Norweigan Spirit) don't seem to have any handicapped cabins in the balcony class, only inside. Our "obstructed" view actually was pretty good, with a big window and the lifeboats below us, so we were pleased it wasn't more obstructed. Check the maps in NCL's brochure or online to see what sort of room you have, location-wise. Center of the ship is normally best, and you may want to be near an elevator. But watch out for what else is nearby don't be too close to a dining room, atrium, or activity area, since NCL may blare announcements and other things out of loudspeakers in those areas. And you may want to check what is above your stateroom to avoid being under a noisy area such as the buffet.
The rooms did not seem as "plush" overall as those on Royal Caribbean or Carnival. There were no bedspreads or colorful pillows. The beds were comfortable, but perhaps a bit harder than on some other ships. In most rooms with twin beds you can ask the room steward to move them together (or vice versa). Oceanview cabins do not have a couch, just a chair. Balcony cabins seemed significantly larger. Showers and bathrooms in non-suites are tiny, though a bit larger in handicapped cabins. Rooms were equipped with a TV (you could rotate it), hair dryer, phone, and so on. Soap and shampoo were from a dispenser, so if you like a bar or higher quality shampoo and conditioner, bring your own.
SERVICE ONBOARD. Unfortunately we found the service level from dining and room staff far inferior to that we received on other cruises from Princess, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean. On those ships, when you came back from breakfast you'd find your cabin had been made up, but on this ship they didn't service the room until late morning. You had to be careful to put the "make up the room" or "turn down the bed" signs on, or your room would never be made up. Further, turn down service came after 8 pm. We did complain and then they "put us on priority" and things improved but I didn't want priority for me, I wanted better service for everyone. The room cleaning was a little sloppy too, with used glasses sometimes not being removed, and I don't think they vacuumed every day. Also we rarely saw cabin stewards in the hall. Some of this lack of service may have been due to the fact that we were in an odd corridor with rooms on one side only, but I talked to other people who said their staterooms were not made up until after noon.
Again, if you had never cruised before, you would have thought service was great. It's not that it was bad service, it just wasn't that GREAT service we'd gotten on Royal, Princess, and Carnival.
FREESTYLE DINING & SERVICE
We don't like freestyle dining because you don't have the same waiters each time you eat, and thus the service level tends to be inferior in other ships the waiters quickly got to know us and would automatically serve our drinks and be aware of any special food preferences. Further the servers onboard the Pearl rarely introduced themselves, and seemed overworked and often dour-looking, just not as friendly as on previous cruises (perhaps because they were overworked).
The good thing about freestyle cruising is that there were no "dress-up" nights. You could dress up if you wanted to, but most people wore casual clothing in the main dining rooms (but no shorts there). Of course this is bad if you love those dress-up nights. Another good thing is that you aren't squished into a particular schedule. You can eat in the main dining room at 5:30 p.m. on one night and 7:30 p.m. on another night. However, this may not be completely true if you want to eat in the main (free) dining room during peak times.
If you go to NCL's website or read their brochure, you'll see statements like "eat when, where, and with whom you'd like." This implies that if you want dinner in the main dining room at 6:15 p.m., no problem, get a seat. Unfortunately this statement turns out to be not quite true, as we found out when we went to one of the main dining rooms (Indigo) at 6:15 (it opened at 6) and found a line waiting and were told "In peak times you need a reservation we might not be able to seat you until 7 or 8 p.m." Argghhh! I complained and they did find seats for us perhaps taking pity on me since I had a cane. But having to make reservations in one of the free main dining rooms isn't what I would call "freestyle." However, when we ate in the other main dining room (Summer Palace) which was larger, slightly after it opened, we had no problems. Fortunately we like to eat early. But if you like to eat at peak times in the main dining room, you might want to call in for a reservation.
There are many more 2-person tables in NCL than on other cruises. If you like to eat with your significant other and no strangers, you'll find this useful. If you are traveling with a large group, you can also arrange to all eat together. But if you prefer to be seated with strangers (as usually happens on other cruise lines which have a lot of 6/8 person tables), you may be out of luck you can ask, but often you'll end up being shown to a table for 2 anyway (at least that was what happened to us since we didn't want to wait around until other people arrived who wanted to share tables).
I feel that NCL's brochures and website are also quite deceptive in their assurances that you'll have at least 14 dining options (check out pages 8-9 of their brochure showing French Gourmet, Italian, Steakhouse, etc). Yes, these options do exist, but the brochure and website fail to put a little asterisk in there to note that you will have to pay extra for the specialty restaurants (a cover charge). The buffets and 2 main dining rooms are free, as is the almost-24-hour dining room (Blue Lagoon on the Pearl) and room service. Specialty restaurants on the Norwegian Pearl were: Mambo's Spanish/Tex-Mex ($10 per person), La Cucina Italian ($10), Lotus Garden Asian Fusion ($15) with Sushi Bar and Shabu-Shabu ($15), Teppanyaki ($25), Le Bistro French ($15), and Cagney's Steakhouse ($25). Menus for these were available near the Reception Desk and other areas. Reservations suggested, especially for the smaller Teppanyaki room. You could also spend extra for special Jazz Brunch ($15) or Indian lunch ($15) events.
Good news on the food the buffet (which included the indoor Garden Café and outdoor Great Outdoors and The Grill) was the among the best I've seen on a cruise ship (we've sailed on Carnival, Princess, Royal, and NCL). The breakfast included the most delicious pecan sticky buns I've ever eaten, several overcrowded omelet stations, eggs benedict, and more. Lunch and dinner actually were fairly similar, with several soups, a pasta station, carved beef/meats station, very small Chinese selection, salad areas, deserts, lots more, and ICE CREAM actual ice cream dished up to you with different, changing flavors that might include things like cinnamon or butter pecan (very popular with the kids), and soft serve ice cream too. They also had Indian and even Thai or ethnic items.
Service in the buffet was relatively good, and there were people to help you with a tray if you were handicapped or old. (Better than Royal Caribbean.) Unfortunately if you were looking for a soft drink or bar service, sometimes there was a delay. Sometimes there was a soft-drink station, but at other times there was none, and you had to ask a server to get you a drink, or head outside to the Great Outdoors bar to get one (an ugly experience when it is cold, rainy, windy, and you've just woken up, I can tell you).
Included drinks are coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and water only, except for breakfast when there is juice. So there is no fruit punch or lemonade like I had on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, respectively.
If you are a soda drinker you may want to purchase a package for "unlimited" soda at all bars and in all restaurants about $50 for an adult, less for children, for a 7 day cruise ($6.25 per day plus 15% gratuity for adults). If you do have free drinks at the casino, you can get cans of soda and sock them away, but this isn't very convenient since the casino bar is closed when you are in port or too close to U.S. shore.
$50 may seem expensive, but when an individual soda costs $2 or more, it can be a bargain. Don't expect cheap booze onboard. The daily specials were often $7-8. During our trip to Glacier Bay, I bought a special hot chocolate with booze without asking the price mistake it cost $14 and included a souvenir glass I didn't want. You cannot bring booze onboard, and if you buy bottles from the ship's shop, you won't receive them until the last day of the cruise (Remember you must put any purchased liquor into non-carryon luggage for planes, which may cost you a luggage fee. Repackage the liquor and wrap with your clothes to protect it.)
Food in the 24-hour Blue Lagoon Restaurant was also good, and included a sit-down breakfast menu, and then snacks and things like burgers and chicken and pizza the rest of the day. Servers here seemed a bit friendlier and better than elsewhere, for unknown reasons.
Food in the Main (free) dining rooms was okay, but not quite as good as that on Royal Caribbean (or other ships we've sailed on such as Carnival or Princess). The dinner menu seemed to have fewer choices than Royal Caribbean. The lunch menu was worse, with some not-very-good choices, and there was no salad bar (which Royal Caribbean now has at lunch).
NCL touts that it has "Lobster. Everywhere." Well, not quite. The main dining room served a very tasty but very small ½ lobster tail with grouper (type of fish) one night. (They seemed to have a lot of grouper on this voyage). You can ask for seconds, and thirds, though. Another night featured lobster, scallops, shrimp, and other seafood over linguini. Steak, salmon, and chicken were available every night in addition to other changing items.
An excellent piano player and a so-so trio of musicians alternated nights and went to each of the main dining rooms. During the lunch there was a player piano, and sometimes the live piano player.
The specialty restaurants also featured lobster, but generally for an extra price, such as add on another $10 or $15 (besides your cover charge). We ate at the Asian Fusion (Lotus Garden) and found the first 3 courses were bad, followed by a decent main course, and a delicious desert. We fared better at Cagney's Steakhouse with a very good meal (though the filet mignon wasn't too good). The service in these specialty restaurants was not really much better than in the main dining room. (Unlike our experience on Royal and Carnival where the service in the specialty restaurants really stood out). I was tempted by the sushi in the Lotus Garden until I found out that fresh sushi had been brought onboard only in Juneau, but now it was 5 days later, so go early if you want the sushi.
My advice is to check out the dinner menu in the main dining room (usually available if you ask the waiter the night before or it will be posted around noon), and if it doesn't please you, then think about going to the buffet (free) or paying for a specialty restaurant. Despite the hype that you need to book your reservations well in advance for the specialty restaurants, you probably can get one 1 day in advance or even on the day you want, unless you want a prime time.
Look for the Chocolate Buffet held at 10 pm one night on this cruise. There is no midnight buffet, but you can get snacks in the casino 11-12 pm, eat at the 24 hour restaurant, and call room service 24 hours. Room service's breakfast menu is skimpy (no eggs), but decent at other times.
ANNOYANCES ON NCL.
The main complaint most people had was that NCL seems to "nickel and dime you" with various add-on fees for the specialty restaurants, or activities such as indoor cycling in the fitness center ($12), pilates ($12), martini tasting ($15), etc. Plus a barrage of announcements that go on and on for activities and bingo, lotto, art auction, diamond, merchandise sales, etc. You don't need to buy any of this stuff, but the promotions to sell you stuff can be annoying.
We found the noise of announcements outside our room annoying. On the first morning (day at sea), 5 or so announcements could be heard before 12 noon. I like to sleep late, but couldn't on this ship. We asked if the announcements could be turned softer (after all, they are all broadcast on one of the ship's channels on TV too), and this was done for a couple of days before the volume piped up again.
We were on the 8th floor, which was the same floor as the Blue Lagoon restaurant, which was a nice bonus. Except that the Blue Lagoon overlooked the atrium, and a huge 2-story screen took up one wall of the atrium, which could be seen, and HEARD in the Blue Lagoon. Sometimes it was put to good use, like showing a movie at night, or showing a close-up of a musician who was singing in the atrium, or showing a documentary on Alaska, or for playing Nintendo Wii games. But sometimes (mornings and afternoons generally), they ran some of the same programs you got in your room on which shore excursion to buy, or how to choose diamonds. And sometimes speakers would be down in the atrium telling you where to shop or how to buy diamonds, or other things that basically were aimed at selling you stuff, and these speakers would be up on the big screen with full sound and quite loud in the Blue Lagoon.
So eating in the Blue Lagoon sometimes wasn't all that pleasant an experience, despite good service and food, because you had to listen to all that crap!! And further, they would put the sound of whatever was on the big screen into the hallway that ran towards our room. Thankfully we were not in the first or second cabin in that hallway, or we would have heard that stuff from the screen incessantly through our door.
Another annoyance, at least for me, was the way the main theater was built. It was not handicapped friendly, with steep stairs and no rail to hold onto. Further the upstairs area (it could be reached by the 6th and 7th floor) had some steps going up and then down and then up again to get to some seats. The seats were narrow and some had very little leg room. I learned to go ½ hour early to get a good seat on the end of the aisle which had more leg room. People also had an annoying habit of saving seats, and often the person they were holding them for never showed up, thus wasting seats. The first night show was the worst offender. There were only 6 seats reserved for handicapped people, and not a lot of room for wheelchairs, and all of these were at the very back of the top-most row of seats. Normally the oldest people are the ones who need these seats, and they are the most likely to be repeat travelers on cruise ships so basically the people most likely to be repeat cruisers got the worst seats in the theater.
Like on most cruise ships, the buffets were often crowded, and it could be hard to find a table, even if you were willing to share a table. At least they had seating in the adjacent Italian Restaurant open during breakfast, but it was a short walk there, and food got cold just getting to those seats. The omelet stations were very very crowded in the mornings people were cooking with only 2 hotplates at a time, when they could have easily put in 4 hotplates.
GOOD STUFF ON NCL.
The entertainment was quite good, though the "production shows" were not as good as on Royal Caribbean or Princess. The 2nd City Improv Group was onboard, and they were terrific. Main entertainment also included a pair of good, funny jugglers "SharkBait" and a comedian David Naster. The cruise used these people well by having them give talks, act as hosts, and appear in some of the extra entertainments such as "The Quest" and "Liars Club." The SharkBait duo gave an interesting talk about their experiences as clowns for Barnum and Baily Circus for example. The 2nd city did a "improve workshop" you could join in. Since this was an Alaskan cruise, there were also extra talks about Alaska by a scientist that were quite good.
Lounge acts were also quite entertaining and generally very talented. Late night had extra entertainments such as the "Not Quite Newlywed Show" (poorly emceed unfortunately), Disco Night, 80s night, Dancing with the Stars, etc.
In room TV included several ship's channels, which sometimes showed some of the onboard entertainment such as the Dancing with the Stars, Not Quite Newlywed Show, etc. Also there were 2 movie channels showing free fairly recent films such as "Monsters and Aliens", "Race to Witch Mountain", etc. Satellite TV came and went with the mountains, but consisted of a few channels such as TNT, Fox News, CNN News, HLN news, ESPN, etc. (For unknown reasons Fox News always came through when the mountains disrupted other cable service.)
Amenities included pools and hot tubs (used by some even when it was pretty cold in Alaska), fitness center, rock climbing wall, card room, library, and so on.
They did have a tour of the ship's facilities such as bridge, kitchens etc. That was nice, because some ships have stopped offering them, claiming "security" issues.
The décor of the ship was good. The elevators worked well. Service by the Reception Desk folks was good. The Spinnaker Lounge on Deck 13 was lovely and had a great view. There are many bars onboard, a cigar lounge, decent shops, a chapel, and a bowling alley too (extra charge).
CHILDREN appeared to be having a good time. Like most cruise ships there is a special program for kids of various ages and special areas for them. However we saw more of the kids than we did on Royal Caribbean, which has excellent children's programs. Most of the movies in the rooms seemed slanted towards those kids could enjoy. Also kids could play on a Nintendo Wii machine on the gigantic 2-story screen at certain times and enjoy other areas of the ship such as the rock climbing wall, bowling, etc.
OTHER STUFF.
Internet Café was quite expensive, with 75 cents per minute unless you bought a package of minutes which brought the cost down as low as 44 cents. Wireless was available only in certain hot spots, but you could borrow a cable to plug your laptop into the system in your room. Look for special internet bargains that are listed in the daily newsletter, such as buy 10 minutes, get 10 minutes free during certain time periods. Of course you can save a lot of money by purchasing internet time on shore at internet cafes there.
The spa had the usual range of treatments. I had an excellent hot rock massage (75 minutes for $200 ask for Maria!), but I should have waited for discounts on sea days. They had everything from tooth whitening services, to acupuncture, to botox injections as well. The spa also gives a lot of so-called seminars such as "Botox cosmetic revealed" or "Detox for health & weight loss" which are free, but encourage you to then purchase services. 15% gratuity is automatically added on. The spa hot tubs/steam rooms, etc. are not free (as they are on many other cruise lines), but require an extra fee to use (I think it is $20).
The art for the art auction was displayed around the ship. If you are thinking of buying some art onboard, check out the prices for exactly the same works on Ebay and you'll get a bargain. I also think the auctions are deceptive. I sat through part of one on this cruise and noticed they claimed to be selling an original painting by one artist, yet no one was really buying. Then up came a print of the same artist (now for less money of course) and it "sold" but no one was buying. Now up came 3 mystery prints by the same artist for way less. So it kind of subtly showed you what a "bargain" the prints of the artist were, but of course maybe they weren't such a bargain in reality. Also the art people love to say such and such a work is worth $1600, but the price right now is $800. Of course the "price" they quote is their own price, and now the bargain price is their own price again!! Buyer beware in these auctions! They also charge a lot for shipping and framing too, plus extra charges, so the best deals are those for already framed pieces you can take off the ship.
Best buys onboard ship Russian items on sale (Alaska has a Russian heritage), watches, liquor, cigarettes. Worst buys any gems that don't have settings; paying for a setting can cost more than the gem.
Injuries. Unfortunately there are always injuries onboard ship or in shore excursions. A doctor is onboard, but normally you will pay if you need his services. We witnessed a man getting cuts on his hands during a shore excursion, and when he was brought onboard the crew immediately saw to it that he received additional medical attention, even though the medical office didn't have office hours. Be careful when you are walking around the ship for odd places in the carpet or uneven surfaces. I almost fell when I walked through the Mambo's restaurant which was not in operation for unknown reasons there was a step in the middle of the restaurant (between tables) that I didn't see.
Sea sickness. Cruising in Alaskan waters is far calmer than cruising the Caribbean or open sea. The Norwegian Pearl, like most modern vessels, is equipped with very good stabilizers, and for the main part runs so smoothly that you will hardly notice the ship's movement. However if you are susceptible, you may want to get a patch or bring Dramamine or similar with you. I am susceptible, but found this cruise remarkably smooth until the last night.
WEIRD THINGS. There were lots of the hand-sanitizers around the ship, and also people spraying your hands when you entered any of the restaurants or returned from the ship. There may have been more of this than normal because some other cruise ships in the area had Norovirus. It is always a good idea to use these as much as possible and wash your hands frequently. Note however, these generally only prevent bacterial infections, and don't necessarily work on all viruses. Despite all the hand-washing and spraying, I still caught a cold on the last day of the ship.
But the weird part was that in the middle of the cruise they suddenly took away the salt and pepper shakers and condiments from the tables in the buffet areas. This was annoying. Apparently the outbreak of norovirus on nearby ships got more serious, and this was an attempt to limit spread of any possible disease. However, this was really stupid, because the replacement was a bowl full of small packets of salt and pepper, and guess what, you had to dip your hands in there to pick them up. And meanwhile salt and pepper shakers remained on tables in the other restaurants. Plus, everyone shared the tongs they had in the buffet, and sugar packets remained on the tables, etc. I don't know what they would have done if there had been an outbreak on our ship.
SOME BASICS OF CRUISING.
When touring Alaska (or the Caribbean), don't forget to bring your passport. Non U.S. citizens now need to get a Canadian visa, so be sure to check on that before the cruise. When you check in for your cruise, you'll be given a ship's card which also acts as your room key and you'll need to have this with you whenever you get on and off the ship in any port.
Be sure to book your flight to your port city early enough so that if there is a travel delay, you can still get onboard. If you arrive too late, you'll have to fly to the next port to get on, which can be an expensive proposition. You may want to arrive the day before the cruise leaves to have enough time. You can check with NCL to find out how late you can board and what flight times they recommend for boarding or departing the ship. NCL lets people who want to carry their own luggage leave the ship early when you arrive home again, others may have to wait an hour or two. Be sure to book your flight home late enough that you can get off the ship, pass through customs, get to the airport from the port, and pass through security.
Upon arriving to the port you will need to go through security. The cruise ship doesn't want people bringing their own supplies of booze onboard, so they will confiscate any they find (and usually return it at the end of the voyage). When you go to the various ports along your cruise, you will also have to pass back through security and any booze you purchase on shore will be confiscated (and returned before the end of the cruise). Usually you can start boarding the ship approximately 1 hour before the official time they tell you you can begin boarding (approximately 11 a.m- noon for most ships). Arriving early is good because you have time to check out the ship, and the buffet will be open for business. Sometimes there will be a long line of people arriving to board, so early arrival can also avoid a bit of this.
On most cruise ships you will find ship's photographers when you enter, leave, eat, or walk around. If you like to have your photo taken you can purchase the photos during the cruise, but they can be quite expensive. If you don't want to buy any photos, ever, just walk right past these photographers as fast as possible! To save money, bring your own digital camera, use Photoshop or similar program when you get home, and make your own great photos.
Don't overpack for the cruise. You can wear casual clothing and avoid dressing up (if you want to) on NCL. You can always send clothes out to be washed or cleaned by the cruise staff (for a fee) if you need to. Traveling with 1 carry-on per person makes life a lot easier, and you don't have to worry about your luggage being lost on the plane on your way to the cruise.
CONCLUSION. Overall I did enjoy the cruise a great deal, perhaps because it was Alaska, which is always great. It did seem though that for every great thing that was new about NCL versus other cruise lines, there was something bad, like the very nice Blue Lagoon 24-hour restaurant coupled with too loud sounds from the 2-story screen in the atrium it overlooked, or the really good buffet (Garden Café) versus not so good Main Dining room (compared to other cruise lines). If I had to pay full price for a cruise, I would definitely take Princess as first choice, followed by Royal Caribbean or Carnival (or maybe Holland America which I haven't used) over NCL. If I got another certificate for NCL that required me to pay a lot for fees for a so-called free cruise, I might not use the certificate at all unless it was for a destination I really wanted to go to. If I got another actually totally free cruise on NCL, such as I am getting in the fall from Harrah's New Orleans (Nov. 15 Norwegian Spirit, includes all fees and gratuities), I probably would go.
(For more on Alaska, see Part II post.)